Notes: A small reference is made to my story Dark Vengeance, as I have decided to take it into the main timeline after all. It was always intended to have a happier ending for Kadaj-tachi, even though the published version of the fic did not depict said ending. Also, I prefer the fanon idea that they are Sephiroth clones imbued with Sephiroth's will rather than actual pieces of his spirit.

Chapter Six

Scotch was excited by everything. Even the lobby at Jenova Corp thrilled him, since they were there and since Sephiroth and the others had presumably decided on the decor. He walked around to each picture, trying to determine which of them had picked each one.

"Oh boy," Radley chuckled. He was still amused, but he was wondering if Scotch could really be contained. He had managed to keep Scotch from gushing over Reno and Rude to their faces, but when Sephiroth, Cloud, and Zack were Scotch's favorites, that was going to be a lot harder.

"So how are we doing this, Yug?" Joey wondered.

Yugi didn't look sure himself. "I guess we just ask to see one or more of them, whoever's available," he said awkwardly.

"And you'd better do it, since you're the best speaker out of me, you, and Tristan," Joey said. "It should probably be somebody who's met them before."

Yugi nodded. "Yeah. . . . I texted Téa about coming too, but I didn't ask anyone else since our group's already really big." He gave an embarrassed smile.

The doors opened and Téa hurried in. "Hey!" she greeted. "You guys didn't start without me!"

"You're just in time, Téa," Yugi said.

Definitely just in time, as the receptionist was now returning from wherever she had been for a moment. The sheer size of the group made her stop and stare in shock. ". . . Can I help you?" she asked, in a tone that meant she wondered if anyone could help such a large group.

"Yeah, uh . . ." Yugi rubbed the back of his head. "We need to see someone in charge. . . . Sephiroth or Cloud or Zack, whoever can see us. We . . . um . . . we have some information they should know."

"We met them at a big business dinner shindig," Joey interjected. "The four of us did, I mean." He gestured to himself, Yugi, Tristan, and Téa.

". . . I see." Clearly still not sure if this was legitimate, she reached for the phone. "Whom shall I say is here? And to what does this information pertain?"

"Yugi Muto and friends," Yugi said. "And . . . you can say we have information about some people they know."

"Alright." She did relax a little at Yugi's name. And after briefly speaking with someone on the phone, she hung up and looked back to them. "You may go on up to the top floor," she told them. "They're all available."

"Yes!" Scotch could not refrain from exclaiming.

"Thank you," Yugi smiled.

Somehow they all managed to fit into the elevator. Soon they were heading up.

It was slightly startling when they arrived at the top and the doors opened to reveal a younger silver-haired man sitting in a chair and staring off into the distance.

Scotch had had enough of being contained. He hopped over before Radley could stop him. "Yazoo?!" he exclaimed.

Yazoo slowly turned, blinking green eyes at this stranger. "Yes," he said vaguely, questioningly.

"I'm Scotch! I'm happy to meet you!" He promptly stuck out his hand.

Yazoo slowly shook it, still staring in an eerie, almost blank, way.

Kalin could not hide his bewilderment. "Why is he here?" he wondered in an undertone.

Radley could only shrug, but was thoroughly relieved that the quietest of the Sephiroth clones did not seem to be in a violent mood. If the movie was accurate to their personalities, Yazoo could suddenly snap under provocation and had a very sadistic streak.

Zack soon bounded out the door and answered their question. "Okay, Yazoo! Shera's all done with our meeting! She'll be out in a minute!"

"Alright," Yazoo replied.

Zack looked to all the visitors. "Hey!" he grinned. "Welcome to Jenova Corp! You guys wanted to talk to us?"

"Yeah, we do," Yugi said, stepping forward. "Hi again."

Tristan gave an awkward wave. Suddenly concerned as to whether Zack might think he had broken his word from last night, he tried to shrug.

Zack didn't seem worried. "Let's all go in the conference room," he said. "Seph and Cloud'll be in in a minute." He held open the door and everyone trooped inside, just as Shera was collecting papers and folders into a tote bag and hurrying to get out. She also gave an awkward smile in greeting, but quickly slipped past them to Yazoo. He got up, finally showing a bit of emotion as he looked pleased to be leaving.

Scotch watched in fascination. "Yazoo's with Shera?"

"Yeah, she's adopted him and his brothers," Zack said. "She and Cid really care about them. We had a scare not too long ago where some crazy thief shot Yazoo down and it looked like he was done for, but he pulled through!"

"I remember reading about the thief in the paper," Atem said. "That experience must have been horrible."

Zack sobered. "It was. She was a real piece of work." He brightened, not wanting to dwell on it. "So! Wasn't expecting to see you again so soon, Tristan! You really helped us find that place last night. Thanks!"

"Glad I could help," Tristan said. "Uh . . . something weird happened when I was on my way home. That's what we came to talk to you about."

Zack folded his arms and nodded slowly, looking confused. "Okay. Well, here's Seph and Cloud now! You can tell all of us!" He gestured to the back door of the conference room as Sephiroth and Cloud were opening it and making their way in.

Scotch looked ready to levitate. "So cool. . . . All of you here . . . !"

"He's a big fan," Tristan awkwardly interjected. "I didn't say anything, but . . ."

"It's fine!" Zack said. "Hey, like Seph said last night, we don't deny it when we're found out."

"That must happen a lot," Kalin remarked.

Zack chuckled. "Kinda, yeah."

After a very long round of introductions, they got down to business. Tristan again described what had happened last night, as well as the encounter with Reno and Rude from that morning.

"Don't worry about them," Cloud said. "They work for us."

"Good to know," Tristan said.

"Yeah! We weren't sure if they might be working for the bad guys," said Joey.

"Nah, they've been with us for a while now!" Zack said.

This was the first Téa had heard of Tristan's weird experience, however, and her eyes widened as she continued to ponder what he had told. "You say this guy you saw was reciting poetry?!" she gasped.

"Yeah," Tristan said. "Seemed to be, anyway."

"I wonder if he's the same one Duke saw last night at Ambrogio's," Téa said. "He kept asking about portals."

Sephiroth stiffened. "What about portals?"

Téa paused, trying to remember all that Duke had told her. "Let's see. . . . I think Duke said he wondered if there were any portals to another world."

That was of immediate concern to all the businessmen.

"He's looking for a portal back to Gaia?!" Zack exclaimed. "Why?!"

"Duke was pretty weirded out by it," Téa said. "He asked Seto to help, but he couldn't find any records of him. Um, he kept calling himself Gackt."

Cloud snorted. "That's him, alright. Genesis."

"I knew it!" Scotch declared.

"So the restaurant hasbeen lying," Sephiroth mused. "Why would they?"

"We should find out!" Zack declared. "And now we've really gotta find him! Hang on, I'm gonna go get Angeal! He should hear this!" And he tore out of the room.

An awkward silence followed.

"So . . . you guys haven't run into that guy at all while you've been here?" Joey finally asked.

"Not directly," Sephiroth said. "We've suspected for some time that he's been helping us from the shadows. For one reason or another, he absolutely doesn't want to be found." He folded his arms over his half-unbuttoned shirt. "And when Genesis Rhapsodos doesn't want to be found, he isn't."

Cloud nodded. "There'd be long stretches of time back home where he'd pretend to be dead or he'd go missing, all kinds of stuff. And then suddenly he'd turn up again."

"But if he's been helping you, he wouldn't want a portal for any bad reason, would he?" Téa asked. "Maybe he's just trying to make sure those Fragmented Triangle guys don't find it."

"Let's hope that's all it is," Sephiroth said. "For all we know, he may have some insane idea that we don't belong in this world and it's up to him to force us all back. It's fine with me if he decides to go back himself, but as far as I know, most of us would rather stay."

Cloud nodded. They had fought so hard for their world and he hoped it would be fully restored by Reeve's and others' efforts, but he had come to love it here, where he had finally found peace. And his greatest concern about going back to Gaia would be that Sephiroth would not be able to be there without someone always trying to kill him. His insanity was more widely known there now and he feared Sephiroth would not be forgiven or trusted by the majority of the people.

"We hope you will be able to," Atem spoke.

The door opened again and Zack came in ushering Angeal. "Okay!" he said. "Let's go over all of that again, so Angeal can hear too."

By now Tristan had almost memorized the tale. Téa added what she knew from Duke.

Angeal was definitely interested. "Can we call this Duke to learn more?" he asked. "He might have information he didn't tell you."

Téa quickly glanced at Tristan, then away. "Um . . . well, he might be working now, but we could try," she said. Even if it would be uncomfortable with Tristan there, Duke needed to be contacted in light of this mystery.

Sephiroth gestured at the conference phone in the middle of the table. "Go ahead."

Tristan just kept his gaze averted as Téa dialed the number. He would probably just stay quiet. He had let Duke know he had been forgiven for taking Serenity, but they still did not usually associate now. And if they were going to, this was the last situation in which he would care to do it, with so many around.

". . . Oh, um, is it okay if I let him know about you guys?" Téa asked as the phone rang.

"We'll join in the conversation and speak with him ourselves," Sephiroth said. "He was also at that business dinner, wasn't he?"

"Yeah, he was," Tristan said.

Soon there was a click. "Hello," Duke greeted. "Who is this?" He sounded wary at best.

"Hi, Duke," Téa said. "It's me. A lot of us have been talking with those guys at Jenova Corp. It's a long story, but it looks like they know that weird Gackt guy."

"Really?!" Duke perked up. "Well, who is he?!"

Sephiroth sighed but spoke. "That is . . . hard to explain without giving you some background information. He is . . . basically, someone we knew from the past. We believe he means no harm now, but we're not sure. He is very elusive and has apparently got the restaurant to lie repeatedly about him being there."

"He doesn't sound like someone to trust," Duke remarked.

"And we likely wouldn't trust him at all, except that he seems to have helped us at times in the past," Sephiroth said.

"Then why is he so intent on no one finding out about him?" Duke frowned.

Sephiroth hesitated, looking to Zack and Cloud before opting to make his next statement. "We don't know," he said. In utter resignation he added, "Are you familiar with Final Fantasy VII?"

Silence. Then, "Yeah. And I've heard a lot of Joey's weird rants about you guys."

Sephiroth smirked a bit. "Didn't you even once wonder if he was right?"

"Sure," Duke said. "It'd be hard not to. But you've got to draw the line somewhere."

"In this case, you shouldn't," Sephiroth said.

Another silence. "You're actually admittinghe's right?" Duke said in disbelief.

"Yes," Sephiroth sighed. "We are those people. And this person you've been encountering is Genesis Rhapsodos."

This time the silence went on so long that Téa finally, uncomfortably asked, "Duke? Are you still there?"

". . . I'm just trying to decide if this is some elaborate joke or something," Duke said. "Or if you guys have all been taken in by con artists."

"It's not and we haven't," Tristan finally found himself speaking up. "It's all true, man."

Duke gave a scoff of surprise. "You're there, Tristan? And you believe this?"

"Yeah, I do," Tristan said. "It's a long story."

"It must be," Duke snorted.

Sephiroth looked tired. "While we completely understand if you can't accept this, we're hoping you can tell us more about these encounters with . . . this person."

"It's mostly always the same," Duke said. "He's sometimes there when we're there and he talks poetry to us."

"He usually relates the poetry to something about the current situation," Sephiroth said.

"Did he ever say anything else strange about portals?" Angeal spoke up. "Or anything else besides poetry?"

"I don't think so," Duke said. "I'll have to think about it a while."

"Please let us know if you remember something, Duke," Atem said. "We will pass it on to our new friends."

"Yeah, sure." Duke paused, thinking. "You know, the Big Five go to Ambrogio's sometimes. Maybe they can help too."

"Great! We'll call them next," Yugi smiled. "Thanks, Duke!"

"Right. Sure. See you guys." Duke promptly hung up.

". . . Well, that could've gone better," Tristan scowled. "I should have known Duke would be skeptical at best."

"It's fine," Sephiroth said. "I'd be concerned if everyone did believe it immediately."

"I'll call the Big Five," Téa awkwardly offered.

"Please do," Sephiroth said.

Téa started to dial.

xxxx

The Big Five, were, in fact, at Ambrogio's right then for lunch.

"I'm sure glad this place didn't get shut down where there was all that commotion recently," Crump remarked.

"There was certainly a great deal of scandal for a while," Lector said.

"I still don't even get what the problem was," Nesbitt grunted. "Something about one of the waitresses being bad and poisoning someone who was here?"

"Something like that," Gansley agreed.

"According to the testimonies in the newspaper, she was the leader of a gang looking for some valuable antique rose glasses," Johnson said. "The manager here was mortified to learn what happened. They screen all prospective employees much more thoroughly now."

Nesbitt was distracted, looking to where two men had entered and were talking with the maitre'd. After a moment, the maitre'd excused himself and hastened towards a hallway at the back of the room.

"So what's this now?" Crump wondered. "They're wanting to see the manager?"

"It looks like it," Nesbitt shrugged.

Seeing that they were being watched, the duo started heading over to them.

"Looks like whatever's up, we're going to be part of it," Crump said.

Nesbitt grunted in annoyance.

"Good afternoon," one of the men, a redhead, greeted them. "Do you come here a lot?"

"Quite frequently," Gansley said.

"You ever see a guy who likes talking like he's reciting poetry?" the redhead queried next.

"We have," Lector said. "Usually he will greet us with lines from poems."

"When's the last time you saw him?" The redhead rested his hands lazily on a short pole he was holding on his shoulders.

"Last week, I believe," Gansley said.

"So what's up? What's the guy done?" Crump asked.

"We're just looking for him," the redhead said. "Only these guys keep insisting he doesn't come here anymore."

"That's completely illogical," Nesbitt frowned. "Any of the regular customers could verify he's been here."

"Like us!" Crump said.

"Did he ever ask you weird stuff, like if there's portals here?" the redhead wondered.

The Big Five tensed. Why would that person be after portals? Did he know about the one to the future?

"No, he did not," Lector spoke at last. "We would remember if that had happened."

"Can you remember anything he said besides the poems?" was the next question.

"Just casual small talk, asking how we were doing and stuff," Crump said. "One time he asked about Penguin World! That's our penguin-centric theme park!"

From the redhead's expression, he wondered how one could make an entire theme park devoted to one animal. But instead of asking something so trivial, he asked, "Why was he interested in that?"

"He heard us talking about it and thought it sounded unique," Crump said.

"Did he want to visit?" the redhead queried.

"He said he might come check it out," Crump said. "He hasn't yet, though."

Lector's phone rang at that moment. "Excuse me, gentlemen," he said. "This might be important." He quickly answered. "Hello?"

"Hi, Lector," Téa greeted. "Have you got a minute? We needed to ask a favor."

"I am honored, but I'm rather occupied right now," Lector said. "We're all having lunch and these two men are questioning us about a man we've met from time to time."

"Oh. . . . Would that be some guy who always recites poems?" Téa asked.

Lector blinked in surprise. "Why, yes," he said.

"Well . . . we kind of wanted to ask you about him too," Téa said sheepishly. "But if those guys are who I think they are, they work for the people we're with."

"They're Reno and Rude!" Scotch called in the background.

Lector looked further surprised by that. "Excuse me?"

"From Final Fantasy VII," Scotch gushed. "All of them are real and they're here!"

An awkward laugh. "Yeah, uh . . . sorry about that," Radley said. "It's true, though, as loco as it sounds. It's a long story."

"It most certainly must be," Lector remarked, still not sure what he believed. "If I may, I will call all of you back later."

"Right," Téa said. "See you later, Lector."

When Lector hung up, the manager of Ambrogio's had come out and was half-talking, half-arguing with Reno and Rude. All the customers were watching in goggle-eyed interest.

"This isn't gonna help their reputation any after all that scandal," Crump remarked.

Finally the manager pointed to the door in firm anger. Two security guards came to stand by him to enforce the order.

Reno's lip curled in annoyance. Obviously they would have to go. "Okay then," he said. "If that's the way you want it. But don't think this is over!"

He and Rude stalked out, flanked by the security guards. Somewhere in the restaurant, a camera bulb flashed.

"Wow, what a mess," Crump said. "I wonder what the manager'll think when this makes front-page news."

"How foolish to have discussed the matter in the restaurant instead of taking them to his office," Gansley remarked.

"The whole mess is foolish," Nesbitt said. "What could it matter if people know that poetry guy comes here?"

Johnson adjusted his glasses. "Obviously this case goes far deeper than the man himself simply not wanting to be found," he said. "He speaks with so many of the customers. There must be someone else behind this."

Lector sighed heavily. "What have we all gotten into?" he lamented as he took out his phone.

xxxx

Tristan folded his arms, listening as the others conversed with the Big Five when Lector called back. The level to which Ambrogio's was going to insist this Genesis wasn't there was just nuts. It definitely sounded like something more was going on, and Tristan didn't like it at all. Why had those weirdos been on his street last night? Was it really coincidence or just figuring no one would catch them there? Was one or more of the neighbors lying? They really needed to know, and he had no idea what to do to find out.

Maybe if he questioned them, they'd be more likely to open up to him than they did Reno and Rude. If something really was weird, they might not trust a couple of guys they'd never met. But he knew most of the neighbors. He saw them every day when he was taking Lucky for walks.

"Hey," he finally broke into the conversation, "I think I should talk to the people on my street. Maybe they just didn't want to tell two strangers if anything weird was going on."

Everyone looked to him.

"It could be dangerous," Sephiroth warned.

Tristan shook his head. "I know them. They're just normal people. Anyway, we've helped save the world a few dozen times. Things don't get much more dangerous than that."

Sephiroth had to smirk a bit at that statement.

"I think that's a good idea," Yugi said. "Tristan really might be able to learn more than anyone else could."

"And I could just ask really casually," Tristan said. "I walk my dog on that street every day."

Angeal nodded, a bit of hope gleaming in his eyes. "It would mean a lot if you could find something out," he said. "Just be careful in case anyone actually is hiding something."

"I'll be fine," Tristan said. He started to get up from the table. "I'll let you know what happens."

It was a bit intimidating, he had to admit, especially since he'd be handling this alone. But it was exciting too. He wanted to know what was happening and maybe he really would be able to help.

It was something to strive for.